The Liberty Ship was the most common cargo ship in World War II. This one, the USS John Brown, is now preserved as a museum in Baltimore, Md.
Posted on 06/18/2007 9:56:37 AM PDT by BGHater
The Times-News Memorial Day editorial made us proud. But its definition of the World War II veterans as "soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines," though technically accurate -- we were all sailors -- fell short of defining we men of the Merchant Marine.
The U.S. Merchant Marine consists of all of the ships in commercial service registered under the U.S. flag and manned by American men and women. In peacetime, it carries what you have to where you want it to be. In wartime, it joins the other services and operates under the direction of the U.S. Navy to do the same for them. The first naval incidents of the Revolutionary War were fought by the Merchant Marine in 1775. The U.S. Navy wasn't formed until 1776.
In peace and war, merchant ships are manned by civilian crews, who must volunteer for the Merchant Marine and must volunteer for every voyage they sail. And they are free to walk away at the end of every voyage, should they choose.
Some did, and enlisted in one of the armed forces, where the combat dangers were less. No one has ever been drafted into the Merchant Marine.
In World War II, armed forces recruiters sometimes encouraged volunteers to enlist in the Merchant Marine instead, "where the need is greatest." To enlist, you have to be over 161/2\ under 171/2, or older than 35.
Near the end of the 1930s, war in Europe was looming. Our depression-ravaged Merchant Marine was pitifully inadequate for a major nation. The U.S. Coast Guard was charged to begin training new mariners, and set up a training program based on its own. The Navy requested they take over the Merchant Marine. President Franklin Roosevelt said no.
As war came, a new federal organization to train mariners, build ships and support their services was formed. Those who administered it, those who taught and those being taught were gathered together into the uniformed, but civilian, volunteer U.S. Maritime Service. Those who completed their training were issued licenses as officers, or certificates for "unlicensed crew" by the Coast Guard.
The Merchant Marine casualty rate was the highest of all the services, followed by the Marine Corps. The armed forces fought many vicious battles. But they had lengthy "trains of support," of command, planning and administration, procurement and supply. Most of these tasks were performed for the Merchant Marine by the same civilians as in peacetime.
When you were in the Merchant Marine, you went to sea. You could enter a combat zone when you passed the sea buoy, which marked the edge of deep water. Some ships were sunk within hours of sailing, some in sight of the U.S. shore.
Each service had its own tasks, its own methods. The Merchant Marine could man a ship with half or fewer men than the Navy could a virtually identical ship. Different tasks, different men, different methods. Not only the Merchant Marine, but also the Navy later found difficulties enlisting and training an adequate supply of seagoers. President Roosevelt's decision was right.
The Merchant Marine went from a pitiful inventory of aging ships to the world's largest fleet by the end of the war. For example, more than 2,400 "emergency design" ships -- the Liberty Ships -- were built during the war. That is the largest single-design fleet ever built, or ever likely to be again.
They carried up to 10,000 long tons of cargo. They could load and discharge cargo at just about any port, sometimes where there was no port, using its own crew. They were landing munitions and supplies on the Normandy beaches as soon as the beaches were secured. They were anchored off Anzio's beaches exposed to air and submarine attacks, loaded with thousands of tons of munitions, as floating munitions dumps.
If a new Liberty Ship delivered its first cargo but was sunk on the homeward voyage, it had paid for itself. A loaded cargo ship was a more important target to submarines than anything smaller than a heavy cruiser.
We had a job to do, and we did it with praise from the commanders of every war theater. Then the war was won, and there was a need to put a devastated world back together. Again we did our part.
But that's another story.
James V. Shannon was a radio officer and purser in the U.S. Merchant Marine from 1945 to 1950.
HMS Ulysses by Alistair McLean: recommended! If you ever wanted to experience first-hand the convoys and the gallantry of the Merchant Marine, but were born too late or otherwise occupied during WW-II — this is the book.
To the Merchant Marine: valiant men all. We will Remember them.
How many of those are left?
How many of those are left?
Outside of the Sealift Command? Not many. The Merchant Marine Academy graduates about 250 per year and only about a third go to sea in U.S. flagged merchantmen.
I was raised on stories about the Sullivan Brothers and the Chaplains. Those convoys in the North Atlantic kept England alive when Germany held her in a stranglehold.
A young 20 year old from a poverty stricken area of the
rural south was rejected by the Army and by the Navy for
poor eyesight and so he joined the Merchant Marines.
Having never seen the ocean before, he saw duty in the
Atlantic and the Pacific for 3 years of service. His
stories of England, Belgium, Pearl Harbor, and Guadalcanal,
live with me and now are passed to his great grandchildren.
Thanks Dad, for your service.
The world still remembers and appreciates your efforts.
My grandfather was a Merchant Marine... He survived 3 of his ships being torpedoed, two ships were torpedoed by the same U-boat...
There are a bunch of maritime schools. I graduated from Maine Maritime Academy(06 MET). There’s also Mass Maritime, Cal Maritime, SUNY Maritime, Kings Point(Coast Guard Academy), And Texas A&M puts out some deckies(Mates)not so much engine. I graduated in a class of about 170, 90 or so licensed mariners, the rest being non-regimented riffraff. The merchant marine also is made up on non-licensed(non-officer) workers. There are various ratings associated with the unlicensed workers. All are coast guard regulated and have to be certified in their respective ratings like the officers. I don’t know what I’d do without my oiler.
“The Merchant Marine casualty rate was the highest of all the services”
My father was a Kings Point graduate, made many North Atlantic crossings, but was not a war ‘Veteran’ until several years after he passed away. Just one of those unfortunate injustices that happen.
I would recommend the book Forgotten Hero’s by Brian Herbert. It tells the story well.
My father was a King Point Grad and officered troops ships and supply ships during WW2. They continued to use these ships to supply ammo during Vietnam.
I remember as a kid in the 50’s , being somewhat disappointed because my dad had “only” been a Merchant Marine (not one of the arned forces more glorified in the movies). When I got older and realized what they actually had done and gone through, I was humbled and in awe...but the few times I asked my dad to tell me about his war experiences, he would get choked up and start to cry so I never pressed him and never got to hear about his service to our country. (But praise God, we’ll one day be able to talk together without anguish as he accepted the Lord 2 weeks before he passed away.)
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